


Unexpected Wielder

by Sinitar_of_The_Valley



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, OS, Two Omnitrix
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-05 02:50:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16802191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinitar_of_The_Valley/pseuds/Sinitar_of_The_Valley
Summary: Mia Hall is just your average fangirl who spends all her days doing nothing than being a normal fangirl. But something brought her into a different universe of her favourite character. Will she be able to survive all the threats that are sent to her? Can she unlock the secrets left untold belonging to the most powerful device in the galaxy? The Omnitrix?





	1. Then There were Two

Being just a normal girl is difficult really. No action, adventures or anything that kids on tv usually have. Everything is boring. Predictable. You already know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Go to school, maybe embarrass yourself in front of the boy or girl that you like, then go home, do homework, spend time with family or shut yourself in your bedroom. The most exciting thing you can do is read or watch tv. That’s just what I did. Read fanfiction and spend time idolizing my favourite shows.

I didn’t really like books that much though. You didn’t have control over what you could read on that. They all always followed the same genre and tropes. It was as if the authors were too afraid to change it up a bit. But fans didn't. They would take the source material and bend it to whatever was their desire. Their wishes took shape and everything followed.

My favourite shows to read and watch were mostly from Cartoon Network; Ben 10, Generator Rex, Steven Universe. But there were still other shows she liked watching that wasn’t animated or weren’t from that one specific channel.

But I still loved Ben 10. It was at the top of my top 10s. I grew up with that show. I never missed an episode and watched every single season. And after each conclusion, I would always buy the complete season when it came out so I could decide when and where I wanted to watch it.

Original series, Alien Force, Ultimate Alien, Omniverse. I watched them all. And loved them all, despite all the venom fans usually spat to each series as they came out because they weren’t the original. I even enjoyed watching the reboot series. I have to admit that the first part of the debut season was trash, but it did get better. At least for me.

That’s why I was ecstatic when I found myself in their universe. Who wouldn’t be? It was everybody’s dream. Some fanfictions were even about it.

But I didn’t know how dangerous it could be. Or how exhausting I’d end up. Not to mention homesickness. But before I get to all that we need to go to the beginning.

I’m really not sure how I ended up here in the first place.

I’m pretty sure that I was out with my friends at the mall like we always did every Friday. My friend picked out a dress for me to try out and I was in the dressing room. After a few minutes of looking at myself in the mirror, I ended up taking it off and putting my clothes back on.

Then I walked out of the fitting room and all of a sudden I found myself in the middle of a crowd of students all rushing to get out of school. It was very disorienting. And it didn’t help that I was being pulled by my hand either.

Looking around I noticed that all the people in the crowd were kids. Preteen kids. Elementary schoolers with their parents.

And the worst thing was that I was their height. Well, nearly their height since I seemed to be an inch taller than most kids.

I must be dreaming. I slipped on my way out of the fitting room and now I’m hallucinating all of this.

But then why was the feeling of my arm nearly being ripped off so real? And who the fuck was pulling me?

“Come on! Grandpa Max must be waiting for us.” I recognized that voice. But it couldn’t be. He wasn’t real.

I looked at his shirt. It was identical. White shirt with a black stripe and collar. Green cargo shorts and a messy haircut. There was no mistake here. It was Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. The kid who would grow up into a cutie.

Before I could ask what was happening he stopped pulling on me and lifted his head as if hearing something. They were the cries of help.

Ben left me behind as he raced to defend whichever poor kid was being bullied. I think I already knew who was doing it though.

At the beginning of the series in the first episode, Ben defended a classmate who was being threatened to fork over his lunch money. It didn’t make sense because it was the end of the day and lunch had passed. But JT and Cash seemed to be the stupidest duo so I wouldn’t put it past them.

I caught up to Ben just as Cash was pulling him up by the underwear.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, Cash?” I glared at them with my arms crossed.

I’m not sure what I was expecting them to do. Maybe just glance at me and ignore me? Or perhaps I would end up on the tree branch next to Ben and the kid, but I sure as hell didn’t expect what happened next.

JT looked behind him at me to see who was the one making demands. His eyes widened and were made bigger by his glasses the moment he saw me. He tapped Cash’s shoulder.

Cash’s face widened with fright matching his friend’s as he saw who JT was pointing at, me.

“Mia, I, we… we didn’t see you there,” Cash’s face paled.

“Put him down,” I ordered trying my best to control my voice and keep it from stammering. I’ve never really done well confronting with bullies. Though, I’ve never really been bullied myself. The worst I’ve been through was name calling and teasing.

Ben crashed to the floor butt first, his face formed a scowl at the pain.

Now turning to the two bullies I said, “Now scram.”

They obediently scrambled off. The kid who was being bullied first gave me a thankful nod before he walked away. He did take a short second to give Ben a stink eye though.

“Thanks,” Ben grumbled as he picked himself up.

“Hey, at least you tried to do the right thing. That’s all that counts,” I smiled at him.

Ben’s face brightened a bit at my gesture. The screech of wheels interrupted the moment and Ben pulled me with him again.

We were headed to the rustbucket, Max’s RV and Ben and Gwen’s home for the summer. It really was old. At least in the cartoon, it kind of looked alright but in person, I could see that the old thing was supposed to be white. The years had stained it into a yellowish fade similar to the colours of old bones. The paint was chipped too and the metal antennae on the top were horribly bent. I could even see several dents on the chassis.

“Come on. I’ll introduce you to my grandpa!” Ben said with excitement.

I stifled a laugh as Ben threw open the door and was met with the appearance of his orange headed cousin. Gwen looked up at Ben with a sigh but I guess she was curious about me because her gaze lingered on me a bit too much.

“Grandpa?” Gwen started. “Ben brought a girl into the RV. Are we sure this really isn’t the end of the world?” she really nailed the worry and panic in her voice.

Gwen looked at Ben with a smirk.

“Grandpa, you said that it was just going to be us,” Ben whined.

I was starting to get uncomfortable. I really didn’t like being in the middle of family problems. Even less when they weren’t my own. Watching this on tv was completely different than being stuck in the middle of it.

“It’s just for the summer. Besides, I convinced your aunt and uncle to let me bring your cousin so that we can have even more fun.” Little did he know.

“Don’t worry doofus,” Gwen assured him. “If it was up to me, I would be away at tech camp right now. So you don’t have to worry about me the whole summer because I’ll be trying my best to stay away from your stick brain. You can have all the personal time for your girlfriend,” she smirked at me.

I looked at Ben to see that his cheeks were turning red as we locked our gaze on each other. My face warmed up at the implications of this.

“Look, I’m sorry for pairing you with the dweeb called my cousin, but who are you?” Gwen narrowed her eyes at me.

“Uh…” I froze. Did I want to tell them my name? I wasn’t sure. But then I remembered that JT and Cash somehow already knew it. Maybe I had a reputation here. But how? Was it really a dream? Did I somehow travel sideways in time to an alternate universe where this world’s version of me existed already?

“This is Mia, Mia Hall. I invited her to join us for the summer. Her parents agreed to let her and Grandpa Max said that it was only going to be the three of us,” he frowned.

“Nice,” Gwen copied his expression.

“Well, if everyone is ready, we have traffic to beat,” Max motioned for me to close the door.

I did as I was told and we were soon driving down the freeway off to the start of my new life trapped in this world. Not that I’m complaining.

**_Vilgax the Conqueror's Ship_ **

Several robots were working silently as they maneuvered their large ship towards the smaller one they had spent the last several weeks chasing. It contained a precious cargo that they were trying their best to recover.

“I want the Omnitrix back,” their commander demanded from the shadows where only his red eyes glowed.

His slimy green hands slammed onto the armrest of his chair. He rubbed his wrist where the device had once rested. It felt strange to have nothing there anymore.

His robot drones chittered amongst each other before turning their attention back on the console in front of them and the screens that showed them their enemy.

A red laser glowed brilliantly from their canons before firing at the small ship. It was easy for it to evade the weapon thanks to its smaller size but the laser still managed to hit its force field causing it to malfunction and break down.

With no defences anymore, the drones prepared to fire once more. But before they could the ship disappeared. They checked the radar and spotted it moving in closer to the 5th celestial body from the sun. A red planet.

“Catch up to it,” Vilgax growled. The tentacles on his face squirmed a little under his rage.

The engines came to life, shaking the ship. In several seconds they were right behind the ship again ready to continue their small battle.

**_Mia_ **

I helped put up the tent and start the fire. Ben was eager to help me too and in turn his grandfather. Gwen on the other hand, she had her nose stuck in front of the screen. She pretended that the rest of us didn’t exist. I don’t know why but I found her silent treatment kind of cute. If Ben really did have a crush on me, I’m sorry, but I think I was developing one of my own.

It was strange to have a crush on another girl. I never thought I would ever be included in those types of feelings. But I was also getting older. Even if I was trapped in my 11-year-old body again.

“Chow time!” Max called.

We all gathered at the table waiting anxiously for the proverbial dinner. To our dismay, a bowl of worms was slammed down on the wood. I forgot how dangerous Grandpa Max was with foods.

“Uh. Please tell me this is a joke,” I looked up pleading to my host. Ben and Gwen nodded in agreement with worry.

“What do you mean?” he asked with serious confusion. “These are considered delicacies in some countries,” he said while popping one of the living creatures into his mouth and munching on it making sickening noises.

“Not to sound ungrateful or anything Mr. Tennyson, but…”

“Please, call me Max.”

I nodded showing my understanding at his request. “Max, we are still kids. And we would like some normal food.” I offered a toothy smile joined by Ben. Gwen just looked defeated, I guess she knew what his answer was going to be.

“Nonsense. This summer is going to be an explosion on your taste buds. But if you want, I’ll get the lamb’s tongue out for dessert. Or perhaps a side dish.” He went back into the RV leaving us to plan out what to do in terms of nourishment for the summer.

Dinner was a bust. We had to force ourselves to eat the lamb’s tongue in an effort to steer clear from the wriggling worms. It wasn’t that bad for me. But Ben and Gwen still hated the taste and texture of the food. I thought it had a similar taste to octopus.

“Hey Ben,” I called.

He looked up from his game. Grandpa Max was digging around the trunk probably looking for some marshmallows to roast and Gwen was still on her computer.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

We didn’t walk far from the camp. It was just a short one. We talked during it about how the day was going so far. I also managed to sneak some information of myself out of Ben in the process. He really liked to talk about me a lot.

I ended up finding out that I was apparently a thrill seeker here. I stood up to bullies and did all sorts of stupid shit. Skateboarding, I took the same martial arts class as Ben—that’s how we apparently met— and I was single as far as he knew.

The walk didn’t last long.

“Hey. Is that a satellite?” Ben pointed up to the sky.

I looked up to be met with a ball of fire suddenly rocketing towards us. I staggered back along with Ben barely avoiding being crushed underneath the Omnitrix.

Ben was the first to get up and he helped me to my own feet. We remained a bit back from the crash. But Ben was obviously excited about encountering a fallen satellite.

“Which country do you think it’s from?” He asked me.

The ground suddenly fell dropping us closer to the pod now. I watched in amazement as the shell pulled itself apart to reveal the green glowing device.

“Cool,” Ben reached out to touch it.

The Omnitrix jumped out and wrapped itself around his wrist just like in the show. It was amazing. I was watching the events of my favourite show unfold before my eyes. I was experiencing everything myself. If this really was a dream then I didn’t want it to end.

“Wait,” I said too late.

My own hand was reaching out and touched the Omnitrix. An enormous wave of green feedback exploded outward from it pushing me into a tree and tossing Ben on top of a boulder.

“Mia!” He came running over to me.

He stuck his hand out to pick me up. He had the newly acquired Omnitrix on his wrist with the dial slowly spinning around.

I took his hand and ended up shocked to see that I also had an Omnitrix, on my right hand, spinning in the same direction.

“What the?” I said.

“You have the same one?” Ben asked.

He pulled me up to my feet. We raised the devices up to each other. Another sphere of green energy popped up on both of us preventing us from putting them any closer.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

“I’m not sure.”

The faceplates suddenly popped up with the familiar OG Omnitrix beep.

“No don’t touch it…” again, my warning was too late or it might’ve fallen on deaf ears because Ben was washed in a green light and a second later I was also bathed in it.

Once I could see again, I looked at him to see that he’d been replaced by a walking red candlestick. Heatblast.

“What the?” He looked at me. “You’re on fire!” he pointed at me.

“Ben? You’re on fire too,” I pointed out.

He looked at me confused. Then he looked down at himself and started panicking.

“I’m on fire. I’m on fire,” He flailed around.

I tried calming him down but he didn’t listen to me. Because of that, I focused on myself. I was also on fire. And the Omnitrix I had disappeared from where it last was.

There was a small pond nearby where I was able to look at the full changes. I looked exactly like Ben. Except that my flames burned a bit darker. Or lighter. I can’t tell what the word quite is. But where Ben’s flames were nearly white, mine was a bit more yellow. And my body also had a more feminine curve as well as being a bit thinner and a tad smaller than him.

“Hey, Mia. Check this out,” Ben chuckled as he shot a few small bursts of fire at things like branches and twigs. “Pretty sweet, eh?” He looked at me.

I remembered the alternate episode where Gwen found the Omnitrix instead and got an idea.

“It’s okay. But look at what I can do,” I gave him a smile.

A ball of fire formed in the middle of my hands and I shot it up into the sky where it exploded into a show of fireworks. It wasn’t as fancy as what I wanted it to look like but it was better than just shooting balls of fire from my fingertips.

“Oh Yeah?” Ben’s expression deepened into determination as soon as the awe left him. “I can do better.”

I laughed as he began to attempt what I did.

He was able to create a ball like me. But his fireball was all lumpy. And when he threw it into the air, it fell down before it got a chance to explode. But that was the problem. It did explode, right in front of us.

The explosion shook the ground and caused an eruption of flames that consumed the trees.

We were trying our best to put out the forest fire we accidentally created while panicking when Gwen showed up and extinguished Ben.

“Aahhh! Stay away from me Ugly!” She swung her fire extinguisher at his head.

“Watch it, you freak,” Ben blasted the canister away from her hands.

Realization dawned on her. “Ben?” She looked at me, “Mia?”

We nodded. Grandpa Max arrived and looked at us. I could see a spark of recognition in his eyes.

“Holy mother of Paxus,” he said.

“Guess who Grandpa?” Ben and I gave a little wave as Gwen tried to give him hints.

“Ben? Mia? What happened?”

Ben started to try and explain the situation but Gwen didn’t allow him.

“Hello? Forest fire? Smokey won’t like this,” she reminded.

“Max, I have an idea. I just need you to walk us through the steps,” I said remembering about the backfire.

**_Vilgax_ **

“ _ What do you mean it’s gone? _ ” Vilgax breathed heavily.

His body was all torn up. The damage done to the bridge of his ship was bad. The damage done to him was horrific. His limbs were torn to shreds and the only one that survived was his left arm.

The torso was demolished. The bottom half was gone replaced by healing tentacles. And there was a scar that reached up to his eye. His face was in a similar condition. Since most of his organs were gone, he also needed to be hooked up to a respiratory system.

All this resulted in him just floating around in a chamber that accelerated his healing. So he would be able to fully stand by himself in a month or maybe less.

-Scanners show that the device was ejected in a pod with a trajectory towards the planet below before being destroyed.- one of the droids informed.

Vilgax’s eyes narrowed, “ _ Bring me my Omnitrix. _ ”

A robot half the size of the tank Vilgax was in moved from its hiding place and left to the ejector pods.

“ _ Ready my battle armour. I will need to follow up to make sure I can ensure the procuration of the device. _ ”

-My Lord. You have sustained too…- electricity crackled through its body and it fell to the floor limply.

“ _ Any more concerns?” _ The other droids looked at each other before shaking their heads.

They would be preparing and modifying his armour to keep him alive outside of the tank.

**_Mia_ **

I let Ben explain the entire thing. So while he and his family talked, I ate some marshmallows trying to keep them from burning to a crisp in my mouth.

“And then it latched onto my hand. And Mia touched it. And when she did there was this huge explosion of green,” he mimicked what happened with his hands and sounds.

He reached into the bag I had and popped in a few marshmallows for himself.

“And then the dial of the watch popped up and I pressed it down and bam! I was on fire. Except it didn’t hurt. And she was on fire too. This is just so weird and cool.”

“Will Ben and Mia ever go back to normal? Or will he stay a monster forever?” Gwen asked Max.

“I hope so. I don’t want to set fire to everything forever,” Ben admitted. “I can’t catch little league balls if I’ll just burn them.”

“Well for one. He isn’t a monster. He’s an alien,” we all stared at him. “Uh…I mean look at him,” he pointed.

He looked at me. I guess my gaze lingered a bit too long.

The sound of the Omnitrix timing out washed relief over me. The two echoed at the same time before flushing everything in red.

“I’m me again!” Ben celebrated.

“Yeah. Except…”

“Mia is still the fire girl,” Gwen finished for me.

And the problem was that I no longer had the Omnitrix symbol on my chest. The circle was still there, but it was black. It was cool being an alien-like Ben was so many times, but I was scared now. I didn’t want to be stuck like this permanently.

“What’s going to happen now?” I asked.

“Hold on. Maybe I can go back to the crash site and figure this whole debacle out. Don’t go anywhere,” we nodded at Max’s instructions.

He was gone for a few minutes when Gwen began to ask me things and Ben started messing with the watch again.

“So what’s it like being an alien?”

I gave the question some thought. “Well. I’m not sure. I don’t feel any different. It’s. It’s just. Well, I’m me. But I’m also someone else and I can do different things. You get what I’m saying?” I looked down at her.

I had gotten tired of sitting down on the log. I was just too tall for it and decided to stretch my legs. Besides, the log I was on was already black from supporting my flaming butt.

“Kind of?” She sounded unsure.

The sound of the Omnitrix finally recharging turned our attention to Ben. The boy didn’t waste any time in fiddling with it.

“What are you doing, Ben?” Gwen demanded.

I glared at him as he raised his watch and opened his mouth. He ignored it.

“Don’t you girls want to know how this thing works?” We shook our heads. “Yeah. No surprise there for girls,” he sneered. “If we can figure this out, maybe we can return Mia to normal, and perhaps even use these to help people.”

“Or maybe you’ll end up like her,” Gwen pointed out.

I knew that it wasn’t true. At least not for Ben. But I also knew that the Omnitrix couldn’t just spontaneously clone itself. Or trap someone in a transformation without master control being activated or the life form lock. So really there wasn’t any way to tell what could happen. And I was worried about that.

“Please, Ben. Stop messing with that thing. Wait until Grandpa Max comes back,” I pleaded.

He looked at me and for a moment I thought he was going to listen to me. But then the Omnitrix’s core sprung up and snapped him out of whatever thoughts he was having.

“I think I know how this works now,” he said.

He pointed to the green dot on the thick black band, “You press this button and then you choose out of 10 different aliens.” He spun the dial showing the shadows of other aliens. “Then you slam the face down and wham! You’re one of 10 different alien heroes!” his eyes shined.

Gwen and I looked at him worriedly though.

“Please just…” again, Ben ignored us and slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix.

At the same time, the black circle on my chest came to life and washed me in green energy at the same time.

Everything was taller when I could see again. And I couldn’t see but I could still see. It was trippy. I walked forward and all four of my legs responded.

Legs. I had four legs. Not two. That meant. I remembered now. Ben and I turned into Wildmutt. But Ben would run off into the trees and bump into one of Vilgax’s drones.

I could feel vibrations in the air around me. The gills on my neck opened up and gave me a detailed description of what was going on. Gwen was looking at Ben and me probably curious as to what we turned into this time. She scooped up a branch and then swung at Ben. 

The jump onto the RV shook the ground making me growl involuntarily at Ben. He somersaulted down in front of us and kicked dirt in our direction before jumping off into the bushes.

I looked up at Gwen trying to show my concern over him. She scratched the back of my head probably trying to console me.

Another quick flash of my gills showed me her movements. She was pointing off in the direction that Ben left to and looked back at me. I got what she was trying to tell me and scampered off trying to find her cousin.

I found Ben just as he was tearing a drone apart. The explosion sent debris off into my direction. I was about dodge when I remembered that I was leading Gwen here. I quickly turned around and scooped her into my paws before jumping as high as I could. The pieces of metal landed heavily in the spot Gwen and I were in a moment ago as we landed off to the side. I put her down and received a gentle pat from her.

My gills opened up and I saw Ben as he timed out. Again, I was still trapped in an alien form. This time a partially useless animal alien. I never did like Wildmutt.

I jumped onto the drone Ben was holding on for dear life and grabbed. Before I jumped off, I tore into the thing with my jaws and left it to crash into a tree. No more drones.

While Gwen and Ben argued about something I couldn’t hear, I tasted the air. There was smoke in it. Not from here but from far away. There were a lot of things I was forgetting about the first episode. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with my brain or memory but with a few quick slams into a tree I remembered about the strange Spider drone that tore apart the rest-stop.

I growled and slobbered at Ben and Gwen and once I got their attention I got them onto my back and bounded off for the site. We managed to get there in 10 minutes. It was a long time for the victims to wait, but it was faster than running as humans and it gave the Omnitrix enough time to recharge. I threw Ben off me and let Gwen climb down. Then I started gnawing at the Omnitrix hoping Ben would get what I was trying to say.

Before I knew it, I was able to see and speak properly again.

“Whoa, who is this guy?” Ben asked as he looked at his green crystal hands.

“Call it, Diamondhead. Now stop gawking and help me with this guy.”

The big robot had stopped attacking the buildings and cars and was now looking at us. Its oversized head went from me to Ben. With one hand it smacked me off into the trees and went after Ben.

I picked myself up without a scratch, Petrosapiens were really tough. Why wasn’t it going after me? I also had an Omnitrix.

My question was answered as I looked down at my chest. The Omnitrix was all black again. It must’ve messed with the scans.

The fingers at the end of my hand combined to form a thick spear and I joined in the fight with Ben.

A laser came out of the eyes scorching everything in its path toward Ben. I wasn’t worried, I knew that it would just bounce off him like a mirror but he wasn’t aware of that. He was crouched and huddled probably scared thinking that it would actually hurt him. But when it hit him it just reflected off into random parts of the lot.

I looked at Gwen and Max, they were busy evacuating the civilians. But they weren’t far enough away to be protected from any more blasts. Without thinking I slammed my fists deep into the ground and created a wall of crystal that separated them from the battle.

Now that we didn’t have to worry about stray lasers Ben and I were able to attack more freely. Our attacks left deep gashes in the robot’s body but it still wouldn’t stop.

“Ben! I have an idea,” I called.

“I’m all ears!”

“Do you think you can form a shield or ramp?” I asked as I created a shield on my arm for a demonstration.

“Maybe. I’m not sure.”

“Try at least,” I ordered as I jumped at the robot’s face to buy Ben some time.

I was thrown to the ground just as Ben was ready. He had turned his hands into a type of curved ramp.

“Hey Ugly!” Ben taunted the robot. “Bet you can’t hit me here!” He puffed out his chest.

The robot remained frozen for a moment, then his eyes shot out a laser to him. Ben raised the ramp, up in front of him, making the laser move at me. I raised my shield and bounced the laser up to the robot destroying its head.

We cheered in its defeat. But the victory was short-lived. My breath caught in my throat as a familiar shadow came upon us. My blood drained and turned to ice as I realized that the Omnitrix splitting in two wasn’t the only change in the series.

The tall character was green in appearance and had several grey mechanical limbs replacing his own. But the tentacles were still on his face albeit a bit covered up by the mask that was helping Vilgax breath.

“ _ Hand me the Omnitrix child, and your defeat will be swift and painful, _ ” his eyes narrowed at Ben.

Ben took a stance and sharpened his arms into daggers, I followed his actions and prepared myself to fight the Conquerer.

“ _ Two Petrosapiens? _ ” Vilgax cackled. “ _ I shall be reliving my glory days! _ ”

“If your glory days are about getting pummeled to bits then I’d hate to know what your bad days are, Squid face,” Ben taunted.

I was too frightened to join in the quips. All I could do was attack and dodge the attacks thrown at me. I wasn’t expecting to face off against the warlord this early. Vilgax was definitely always more powerful and evil in the original series. That’s the reason I was scared. Not only that, but Ben barely defeated him during their first encounter because he was already well experienced in using the watch.

My hands dug into the ground and I created a series of spikes that popped up into the air and smashed into one of his legs. The metal tore away to reveal all the circuitry underneath. Vilgax fell to his knee and groaned clutching it.

“ _ You will pay for your insolence, grub, _ ” he threatened.

“Be...Diamond Head, aim for the weak parts,” I yelled.

Ben looked at the damaged knee and his eyes widened in realization, “Gotcha.”

We backed up and raised our hands to start pelting him with tiny crystal bullets. They didn't do anything to the skin it came in contact with, but the crystals certainly gave his metallic limbs a beating.

Vilgax groaned and powered through the shower we were giving him. I strained to produce more along with Ben but he was able to keep walking through it. I could only watch helplessly as he smacked Ben towards the crystal wall I created to keep the innocent people safe. I was glad I made that now.

Ben hit the wall with a sickening crunch just as he timed out. A flash of red light left him unconscious and vulnerable at the hands of Vilgax. This wasn’t how it could end. I still had a chance. My Omnitrix thankfully refused to time out and I was thankful for that for the first time.

“Hey, Vilgax!” he turned at my call. “Say hello to Six-Six and Crab for me.”

I ran full speed at him. Long makeshift swords grew out of my back and I tore them off and swung them at Vilgax impaling his arms. He screamed in pain as they were ripped off and left him armless allowing Ben to roll to the ground with a thud, but safe.

“ _You. Petrosapien, are the roaches of the galaxy!_ _Every time your kind are destroyed, more of you pop up scattered among the stars,_ ” he glared.

It seemed like he still wasn’t aware of the double Omnitrix.

“I shouldn’t spare you because I know you will keep coming after us,” I ripped the mechanical bottom half of his body making him shout. “But you’re necessary for the future.”

I slung Ben onto my shoulder then proceeded to puncture the gas tanks of the cars in front of Vilgax’s eyes. I walked over to a telephone pole and ripped some wires out of the box. Then I dropped it down onto the stream of gas that was starting to pool and head to Vilgax.

“But it doesn’t mean that I can’t leave a souvenir for you to remember me by,” I winked.

I was able to get Ben back to Max and Gwen. They took him into the RV in order to properly care for him. I stayed outside and watched the firemen put out the fire, I created, from the shadows of the trees. Vilgax wasn’t found in the wreckage so I assumed he must’ve escaped the pretty accident I set up for him while I was delivering Ben to his family.

My Omnitrix finally timed out some time during the night before Ben turned into XLR8 to make his revenge plan. If I was awake during that time, I would’ve stopped him from doing that because I was afraid to become trapped in transformation again. But I luckily didn't. My Omnitrix was still in recharge mode and I had no clue how long it would take for it to come out of it.

But there was something even more strange happening to it. It had the standard red face in place of the green one. But 3 blue bars had appeared on the dial. It was like when the Omnitrix was on self-destruct mode. But with the recalibration settings. I wasn’t sure what was going on with it, but as long as nothing back was obviously going on, I was okay with it.

This summer was going to be a strange one.


	2. Small Problem at DC

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mia encounters a tiny problem in the streets of DC while quickly dealing with Animo.

Ben knocked on the door again as hard as he could, making the flimsy thing shake.

“Come on, Mia! I need to use the restroom,” he pleaded.

I could hear Gwen scolding him on things like etiquette or whatever. I didn’t pay attention. My reflection on the mirror was a lot more important to me.

Day 3 of the road trip and just one day after getting an Omnitrix stuck on my wrist and I was barely bringing myself to check my reflection. My hair had been able to survive without any interference and my clothes still hadn’t gotten smelly. Probably some cartoon logic. Though I’m not sure how that would apply here since everything seemed normal to me. Actually, how  _ would _ I know if I was in a cartoon or not if my eyes would adjust to the world?

That was a bit freaky to think about. Just like wondering whether the universe was a simulation or not.

With a shudder, I turned my thoughts back on the reflection. My hair no longer stopped at my chin. It was actually long reaching my shoulder blades. It was styled in the way I used to have my hair when I was eleven—two small braids that connected at the back of my head forming what I called a braided crown.

I was wearing a normal white shirt underneath a styled purple button cardigan. I’ve never liked skirts so I wore jeans instead. And around my neck was my favourite necklace. A book shaped locket. My first boyfriend gave it to me before he moved when I was 14. That was last year.

I’m a bit pale, no longer tanned liked I used to be. Then again that was when I was older. My hair was blonde and my teeth gave a straight white smile. Brown eyes looked back at me reflecting the judging stare I had.

I took after my dad a lot. He was large, white, and had light hair like me. What I didn't match in his looks were his blue eyes and crooked teeth. I was pretty sure I was better off without the latter.

Before I came out of the bathroom, I grabbed my phone. It was the only thing I had on me when I came along for the road trip. It was buried underneath a few articles of clothes in case I needed a change. There was a long list of numbers on it. And worst of all, it was a flip phone. So that meant no internet connection. However, there were a couple of memos and notes written that helped me understand this world’s version of me better. 

I also took advantage of that feature and wrote up a couple of my own notes about what I remembered from the entire series. I still wasn’t done writing everything down since there were just too many episodes. But I already wrote down the essentials just in case I forgot about them. I just wasn’t sure if this phone was going to survive everything. Maybe I should improve on this phone once Ben turned into upgrade and thereafter, me.

Another knock on the door startled me this time.

“Mia, not to be brash, but we really do need to use the rest...room,” I opened the door to allow her to see me. “Are you okay?”

I looked at her confused, “What?”

“You look, sad,” she explained.

Ben nodded in agreement.

“It’s nothing,” I said hoping that they would drop the subject.

The Rustbucket’s tires screeched to a stop as we were knocked off balance and fell on top of each other.

“Ben, there’s a fire going on right now,” Grandpa Max called.

Gwen and I quickly got off of Ben as he activated the Omnitrix. I looked at the one on my wrist and found relief that it was still recharging from the last time it was used. Though being an alien was awesome, I didn't like the idea of being trapped as one forever.

“It’s hero time,” Ben exclaimed before green light washed over him as he exited the RV.

“Nice going dweeb. A walking candlestick for a fireplace,” Gwen insulted.

“Hey Ben,” Ben turned to me. “If you can create fire with that alien, maybe you can also suck it back in.”

“Got it.”

While Ben was in the burning building, Max, Gwen and I were helping the fire dept and other Samaritans keep the watching eyes at a safe distance. It was actually harder than it looked. Movies made it seem easy but all the people pushing made it extremely difficult for an 11-year-old to keep them back.

A small explosion of fire rocked the ground and sent flaming debris into the sky. After this, it was much easier pushing people back a bit. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. As soon as Ben arrived with his rescues in a tornado of fire, all the people began pushing forward to get a better glimpse at him with their cameras flashing bright lights.

“Thank you! Thank you all! It’s all just in a day’s work for a hero!” He pumped his arms in the air as he gave out flying kisses.

He was so full of himself I thought with a sigh.

Luckily, the Omnitrix decided to start timing out at that moment. He cut his display short and blasted off into the air, probably headed off to some building or alley to allow the Omnitrix to fully time out.

Once our help wasn’t needed and the Firefighters had finally put out the burning building, we decided to go looking for Ben. But he showed up right in front of us before we could get into the Rustbucket.

“What the hell, Doofus? Where were you? We were just about to go looking for you.”

“Calm down, Gwen. I had to look for some empty place where I could transform. You guys are the ones who don’t want anyone to know that all the aliens are me after all. And the closest empty place was a roof where the door was locked,” Ben explained.

“Good. Keeping your identity a secret is important, Ben,” Max said before climbing in.

We all followed in after him. I sat on the table across from Ben while Gwen took her place riding shotgun. So far, Ben hadn’t tried to argue with his cousin over who got to ride shotgun. He was always content with sitting on the table actually.

“What do you think, Mia?”

I looked at Ben confused.

“What do you think about having a secret identity?” he repeated perhaps picking up on my confusion.

“Oh, I don’t know. From the comics, I’ve read, and shows, I’ve watched, I think it depends on the person.”

He raised an eyebrow intrigued.

“But what do  _ you _ think about it?”

“Uh. Well,” I gave it a bit of thought. “I want to protect my friends and family. Especially the ones I love. So I’d try my best to keep myself a secret I guess. But I wouldn’t hide it from friends and family. I don’t see a point to that. It just puts them in more danger since they won’t know what’s going on behind their back.”

After my explanation, everything fell silent.

* * *

It was midday when we were all hungry. Max was thankfully running on an empty fridge and so he decided that a trip to the market was necessary. If we worked together we might not be eating worms for dinner or lunch.

While Gwen and I distracted Max and tried to convince him to view the world as a kid would, Ben went off to find appropriate items to turn into food.

“So, Max. I’m curious about why you love so much exotic  _ foods _ ,” I implied my question.

Gwen gave me a death glare and I realized what I had done. Max was going to remember about the real foods he was here for and all we did would have been for nothing.

“Well, you see Mia,” Max began oblivious to the conflict arising between me and his granddaughter. “When you’re away from home in foreign territory. You learn to appreciate what locals call food. All the adventures you experience with your taste buds soon begin to feel familiar and in the end, it begins to become home.” Gwen and I looked up from our glaring contest as we saw Max begin to tear up a bit. “And when your time away is over you start to yearn for those exciting times. For me, these things you call exotic foods are as close as I can get to being among those places.”

Now we knew why he enjoyed the grubs and octopi and pig legs so much.

My Omnitrix recharging broke the atmosphere that had been built by Max’s explanation. I looked at it curiously.

The faceplate suddenly popped up and scrolled all the way to Grey Matter.

“Gwen, find Ben…” I began to order as I realized what was going to happen.

Green energy enveloped me. Once it was gone I was exaggeratedly shorter than I was. Around twice the size of a shoe. And Gwen was gone leaving me alone with Max.

He crouched and picked me up into his palm. As I explained what I “ _ thought _ ” was going on, he ran quickly to the aisle Ben would surely be in.

My frog eyes had eyelids close in horizontally as I scanned the mess. Gwen stood there holding Grey Matter in one hand and a paper in the other.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Max cleared his throat at my language. “Sorry. What I meant to say is, Ben, is an idiot.” I leaned my head on my arm which was propped against Max’s hand.

“Sorry, Mia. I forgot you also transformed with me,” Grey Matter croaked.

“Grandpa.” Gwen gave the slip of paper to Max after giving me a worried glance.

As Max and Gwen collected all of the destroyed boxes of cereal, Ben and I fiddled around with my Omnitrix.

“You know. After I finish with your watch, maybe you can help me figure out mine?”

“I don’t know. We’re only doing this with me because my Omnitrix seems to be busted. Yours, on the other hand, seems to be just fine,” I replied.

“Omnitrix?”

“Yeah. That’s what squid face called it.”

Ben’s watch started to beep and flash.

“Come on hurry up now please,” I pleaded. I so didn’t want to be stuck as an alien for the entire day again, especially not Grey Matter. He was smart and all but he was just too small to be any hands-on help.

“Just a few more...done.”

Red light changed Ben back into his normal self but I was still Grey Matter.

“I’m pretty sure I…”

My Omnitrix began to beep this time interrupting him. But instead of timing out, I heard it pop out and start to spin before closing back into itself.

“What’s going on?” I asked Ben.

Gwen and Max came as they noticed what was happening. Max repeated my question.

“I’m not sure. Mia’s watch just started to spin and glow purple kind of.”

“Well, what’s happening now?” I asked.

“It looks like it turned off. The part that’s usually gray is black now,” Gwen answered.

“Is that bad?” Ben asked.

“I think,” I gulped.

“Well. We can’t do much about it right now. Gwen and I will go off to buy something to snack on. Ben, I expect you to take care of Mia in her current state.”

I road on Ben’s palm as he walked through the store. He was probably looking for that gold sumo slammers card. I can’t believe that he was still worried about that thing after what he did to me again. I know he’s just a kid, but even a child should be able to see how bad the situation I was in was.

“I don’t get it. What Grey Matter was doing should’ve fixed your watch, Mia,” Ben surprised me as his comment revealed that he wasn’t really thinking about what I thought he was.

“Grey Matter? You’re starting to name the aliens?” I smirked.

“Well. Yeah. I can’t just call them Diamond guy or smart guy. And you guys need to call me something when I transform if you guys really want me to keep a secret identity,” he smiled.

We held each other’s gaze awkwardly for a while when a large crash stole our attention. We looked at the wall that had been knocked down and when the dust settled a sickly green man on a giant toad came into our view.

“Hey, Greenie! Have you ever heard of a door?” Ben stood defiantly in front of the two as I quickly jumped down into one of Ben’s pockets.

“You should really respect your elders, Little One. Especially when they are smarter than you. Now run along and don’t try to be a hero.” The toad’s throat expanded quickly knocking Ben off his feet and into a shelf. I was nearly crushed in his pocket but I managed to avoid it.

“You are so lucky I can’t go Hero,” I heard Ben groan as the floor shook.

“Ben you gotta go after him,” I jumped out onto his knee.

“How? I misused the watch for a stupid card and trapped you as an alien again, timed myself out and now I can’t even save the day,” he asked in defeat.

“It’s not the watch that makes a hero, Ben. It’s the user. You were already a hero before you found the watch. Remember when you tried to help that kid who was being bullied? You didn't have any powers back then and you knew you were weaker than JT and Cash, yet you still tried to help them.”

“Easy for you to say,” Ben spat, “You don’t have to have a watch to be a hero. You chased them off that day and you already helped me stop two robberies yesterday without transforming. You’re well-liked and brave, you don’t have to ever worry about others not liking you.”

I fell quiet. Those last comments were not true at all. Not for me at least. I don’t know what sort of life Ben 10 Mia had but I was never the most popular girl at school.

“It wasn’t always like that. But I worked hard,” I began a mix of a lie and truth. “Enough of this. Are you going to save the day and be a hero? Or are you going to let people die?” At that moment we heard Max and Gwen’s screams. “Or your own family?”

* * *

I screamed in fear as Ben wildly rode a scooter around the trashed market. He called out to the giant mutated bird that was harassing his family and scared it off by throwing several heavy items at it. I’m not sure how he managed to do that while keeping his balance though.

All I could do was offer advice on what and where to throw. Which routes to take. Other than that I wasn’t much help.

I’m the end, Ben managed to drive off Doctor Animo and while Ben and the others talked to the manager, I went off to try and make up Ben’s imminent disappointment.

“Where have you been?” Ben asked as I came hopping back into the RV.

“Somewhere.”

Once I was inside Max pulled off into the roads. Galvans were surprisingly good jumpers. They almost seemed like frogs. That’s how I was able to get on top of the counter to hide the golden sumo slammers card that I snagged from the store. I doubt they would miss one of this from their storage rooms.

“But where would Animo go?” I heard the three arguing.

That’s where I jumped down and into the conversation. After plopping myself onto Gwen’s shoulder I said, “If Animo is an animal lover that wants to take over the world with mutated animals, I would think that he would also try and bring older animals back from the dead.”

“Well he did make some comments about the past and even made a BC pun,” Ben commented.

“Then he would go to the museum!” Gwen finished my thought that was interrupted by her cousin.

I nodded my small head in agreement.

I used the time it took to get to the museum to prepare myself for the fight. Since I couldn’t use brawns only brains, I fashioned myself a nail gun for defence and possibly to fight if I wanted to.

Gwen carried me in to face Doctor Animo together.

“You may not be as smart as I thought you were,” he taunted.

“Then you might not be very smart yourself,” Ben smirked.

“Since we’re definitely smarter than you,” Gwen joined.

Animo snarled making Max step in front of us protectively.

“Your insolence will not go unchecked. You will be taught your place by your intellectual superior,” he threatened. “You see, I have built this machine…”

I aimed and fired my nail gun at Animo before he could bore us all to death. The man yelped in pain as he clutched his shoulder where a nail was now embedded. I hope he got his tetanus shot because I’m not sure how old that thing was.

“Ben! Four Arms now, before he can.”

Animo’s helmet fired a laser that hit two dinosaur skeletons.

“You fools, had you let me explain you would’ve known that my helmet doesn’t just mutate animals, it can also bring the dead back to life!” he cackled as Max tackled him to the floor.

“Time to go hero,” Ben turned on his Omnitrix and slammed the dial down.

I braced myself expecting to change too. But while Ben turned into the red four armed alien, I just stayed the same as Grey Matter.

“What? Why didn't you change?” Gwen came to me as Ben went off to face against the two prehistoric creatures.

“The Omnitrix. It must not be working anymore. Whatever Grey Matter did to it shut it off. But it can still be fixed. It has to. For now, we have to focus on the fight.” I looked around and noticed that there was something missing. Max was holding an unconscious Animo underneath him as he tied his hands together and Ben was keeping the T-rex and woolly mammoth busy. “Didn't Animo have a mutant hamster, parakeet, and frog?”

“Now that you mention it,” I hopped onto Gwen’s shoulder as she dashed off before Max could say anything.

In the next room, we stumbled onto a robotic crab that was surrounded by the three mutants. They were all on the ground with blood pooling around them. The crab himself had stains on his metal body indicating that he was the culprit.

-Interesting, a Galvan on earth,- his robotic voice was directed at us as he turned to see us.

“Who are you?” Gwen asked.

-My name is Kraab. I have come for the Omnitrix. But it seems to me that you and the wielder are a bit busy at the moment. So I shall take my leave. Though, Galvan, do be a dear and give the wielder my regards. Your services as a protector will be in vain if you don’t.- with that Kraab just flew out of the building through a hole in the roof. I had no clue as to how I should have reacted.

There were a lot of things that were happening out of order than from canon. This was going to be troubling since I wouldn’t be able to use my knowledge of the show for everything.

“I guess we should go tell your cousin?” I squeaked.

“No. We’ve already got enough problems. Besides, he would try to challenge him immediately. How? I’m not sure but you already know Ben.”

Her explanation made sense. So when the police came to apprehend Animo and take care of the grisly scene inside of the museum, we kept our mouths shut about the alien we saw. He would be returning soon anyway. But we could deal with him when that time came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being bad at summarising the chapter. I'm still learning and finding the ropes to the whole storytelling thing for action stories.


End file.
